Non-variable.

I finished college in December 2008, which meant that I had a full semester of pretending that I was still in college along with the rest of my friends. I lived with friends who were students and worked at a bar where the majority of staff and clientele was populated by students. It wasn't too far-fetched a daydream. But after graduation came decisions about what city was next, where we'd get jobs. Eventually there was just a handful of us left, the rest scattered to New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. I mourned the end of college, the end of the intense friendships and love that proximity allows. Then I visited friends in Philly and upstate New York. Then they came and visited me. Then I discovered gchat as an acceptable distraction at a day job rather than a really bad reason to stay up until 5 AM. Email chains, Skype dates, and handwritten letters and postcards became the norm, quickly filling the space I had been so convinced would remain empty and aching forever.

This past weekend I was in a new place with old friends, celebrating love and beer and tattoos. My good friend Kavi got married in Austin, Texas, and it was just another reminder that of all the variables I have to account for in life, my friendships are not one of them.